OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS The aim of this study was to ascertain the most reliable objective measurement for the assessment of nasal patency by investigating the relationship between peak nasal inspiratory flow, peak oral inspiratory flow, and the nasal patency index in relation to the patient's subjective perception regarding nasal obstruction. STUDY DESIGN Prospective cohort study. METHODS Th...

BACKGROUND Spiromax® is a novel dry-powder inhaler containing formulations of budesonide plus formoterol (BF). The device is intended to provide dose equivalence with enhanced user-friendliness compared to BF Turbuhaler® in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The present study was performed to compare inhalation parameters with empty versions of the two devices, and to inve...

BACKGROUND The incidence of diabetes is increasing tremendously throughout the world especially in the developing countries. This disease affects various organs like eyes, nerves, kidneys and the heart. In this study, we investigated whether lungs are also one of the target organs of diabetes mellitus or not. AIM To assess the pulmonary function parameters including alveolar gas exchange in p...

OBJECTIVE Effect of peppermint on exercise performance was previously investigated but equivocal findings exist. This study aimed to investigate the effects of peppermint ingestion on the physiological parameters and exercise performance after 5 min and 1 h. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty healthy male university students were randomly divided into experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. ...

OBJECTIVE The AeroChamber Plus (AC) valved holding chamber has been enhanced to include the Flow-Vu (FV) inspiratory flow indicator that provides visual inhalation feedback during use. We have investigated if FV alters asthma control and whether parents accept it. METHODS At visit 1, children with asthma, age 1-5 years, used an AC with their pressurised metered dose inhaler and 2 weeks later ...

BACKGROUND Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) is generally delivered using pneumatically-triggered and cycled-off pressure support (PSP) through a mask. Neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA) is the only ventilatory mode that uses a non-pneumatic signal, i.e., diaphragm electrical activity (EAdi), to trigger and drive ventilator assistance. A specific setting to generate neurally controlled pre...

BACKGROUND Patients often experience problems using metered dose inhalers (MDIs), particularly poor coordination between inhalation start and dose actuation (TsIn: time difference between the start of an inhalation and the actuation of a dose), and fast peak inspiratory flow (PIF). We investigated if a coordination cap (CAP), with instruction to prolong inhalation, solved these problems. METH...

Whilst the trials quoted in the Cochrane reviews [5–7] provide various degrees of quality of evidence, the key information that is missing from these studies is an understanding of the physiological principles by which these different techniques work. Physiologically, the techniques need to do the following. 1) Increase absolute peak expiratory flow (PEF) to move secretions towards the orophary...